Slides for the DevOpsDays Amsterdam talk about burnout

1. WHAT WE’RE LEARNING
ABOUT BURNOUT
and how a DevOps culture can help

2. AGENDA
Intro and disclaimers
Why this talk?
What is DevOps
What is burnout
What causes burnout
Some things you can do
2

3. THIS IS ME
Former US Marine
25 years in the software development industry
Worked as a developer, system administrator, support technician, development
manager, corporate director, sales engineer and a few others
Currently a technology evangelist for ThoughtWorks, specializing in DevOps and
Continuous Delivery
3

4. YOU SHOULDN’T
BELIEVE ANYTHING
I’M ABOUT TO SAY
4

5. Did you notice anything missing from my bio?
5

6. Did you notice anything missing from my bio?
I am not a mental health professional!
6

7. DEVOPS COULD ACTUALLY MAKE IT WORSE
Some organizations see DevOps and Continuous Delivery as nothing more than a
way to move faster.
7

8. CONFIRMATION BIAS
Confirmation bias, also called confirmatory bias or myside bias, is the tendency to
search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's
preexisting beliefs or hypotheses, while giving disproportionately less consideration
to alternative possibilities.
8https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

9. CORRELATION VS CAUSATION
9

10. IF YOU SHOULDN’T
BELIEVE ME, WHY AM
I GIVING THIS TALK?
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11. Why not me?
11

12. Why not you?
12

13. WHY SHOULD WE
ADDRESS BURNOUT?
13

14. Because we’re human, and we can
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15. WHY WE SHOULD ADDRESS BURNOUT
“Psychological safety was far and away
the most important of the five
dynamics we found -- it’s the
underpinning of the other four.”
15https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/five-keys-to-a-successful-google-team/

16. WHY WE SHOULD ADDRESS BURNOUT
“Burnout is not just about the presence of negative emotions. It is also about the
absence of positive ones … if the work makes you feel good, you'll want to keep
doing it and doing it well.”
16
Christina Maslach;Michael P. Leiter. The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations Cause
Personal Stress and What to Do About It

17. WHAT IS DEVOPS?
(Because the world needs yet another definition)
17

18. MY DEFINITION OF DEVOPS
18
A culture where people,
regardless of title or background,
work together to imagine, develop,
deploy and operate a system.
But some of what you’re about to hear assumes you’re practicing
Continuous Delivery as part of a DevOps Culture

19. WHAT IS BURNOUT?
19

20. 20

21. THE DIMENSIONS OF BURNOUT
Exhaustion
Cynicism
Professional Efficacy
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22. THE DIMENSIONS OF BURNOUT
Exhaustion
• Measures feelings of being emotionally overextended and exhausted by one's
work. Exhaustion is a depletion of emotional energy, distinct from physical
exhaustion or mental fatigue.
Cynicism
Professional Efficacy
22

23. THE DIMENSIONS OF BURNOUT
Exhaustion
Cynicism
• Measures an unfeeling and impersonal response toward the recipients of one's
service.
Professional Efficacy
23

24. THE DIMENSIONS OF BURNOUT
Exhaustion
Cynicism
Professional Efficacy
• Measures feelings of competence and successful achievement in one's work.
24

25. WHAT CAUSES
BURNOUT?
25

26. “Burnout is always more likely when there is
a major mismatch between the nature of the
job and the nature of the person who does
the job.”
26
Christina Maslach;Michael P. Leiter. The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It (Kindle
Locations 132-133). Kindle Edition.

27. mismatch
27
Christina Maslach;Michael P. Leiter. The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It (Kindle
Locations 132-133). Kindle Edition.

28. SIX COMMON AREAS OF MISMATCH
Work Overload
Lack of Control
Insufficient Reward
Breakdown of Communication
Absence of Fairness
Conflicting Values
28

29. WHERE DEVOPS CAN HELP
Work Overload
Lack of Control
Insufficient Reward
Breakdown of Communication
Absence of Fairness
Conflicting Values
29

30. MISMATCH 1 - WORK OVERLOAD
Work is more visible
More load sharing
Less deploy marathons (CD)
Some orgs see it as cost savings
There is no such thing as a full stack engineer
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31. MISMATCH 1 - WORK OVERLOAD
31
My last 3 years

32. MISMATCH 2 - LACK OF CONTROL
Teams are ultimately responsible for decisions
Use the right technology and tools for the team
This doesn’t mean a “DevOps Team” controlling what others do
32

33. MISMATCH 3 - INSUFFICIENT REWARD
Becoming a “DevOps Engineer” and getting paid more won’t hurt, but it won’t help
either
Money isn’t actually a very good motivator
• There is less than a 2% overlap between pay and job satisfaction
• You’re more likely to like your job if you focus on the work itself, and less likely to
enjoy it if you’re focused on money.
• For every standard deviation increase in reward, intrinsic motivation for
interesting tasks decreases by about 25%.
33
https://hbr.org/2013/04/does-money-really-affect-motiv

34. MISMATCH 3 - INSUFFICIENT REWARD
34

35. MISMATCH 4 - BREAKDOWN OF COMMUNICATION
35
CODE BUILD TEST
WALL
RELEASE
WALL
OPERATE
WALL

36. MISMATCH 4 - BREAKDOWN OF COMMUNICATION
Everyone involved with the product is on the same team
Pairs with different skill sets are common
Swarming can be done when required
Blameless retrospectives are held
There is no such thing as a “DevOps Team”
• creating a new silo is not a solution for silos
36

37. MISMATCH 5 - ABSENCE OF FAIRNESS
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38. MISMATCH 5 - ABSENCE OF FAIRNESS
You build it, you run it
Everyone is responsible for quality
Everyone goes to the release party
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39. MISMATCH 6 - CONFLICTING VALUES
This means values in the broadest possible context
There is one definition of success for the team
Compensation is tied to entire team’s success
39
ThoughtWorks Pillar Three
Advocate passionately
for social and economic justice

40. Reminder: It’s all about you
40

41. SOME THINGS YOU
CAN DO
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42. Pay attention to how you feel
42

43. INCREASE YOUR SELF AWARENESS
Maslach Burnout Inventory
• http://www.mindgarden.com/117-maslach-burnout-inventory
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44. INCREASE YOUR SELF AWARENESS
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That was great!
The customers love it!
Pure genius!
Love having you on the team!
You rock!
Very helpful!
I don’t like you

45. INCREASE YOUR SELF AWARENESS
45
That was great!
The customers love it!
Pure genius!
Love having you on the team!
You rock!
Very helpful!
I don’t like you

46. INCREASE YOUR SELF AWARENESS
46
That was great!
The customers love it!
Pure genius!
Love having you on the team!
You rock!
Very helpful!

47. TALK TO SOMEONE
Professional help is the best
• Trained to identify cause and effect
• Can recommend treatment
• You’d call them if you broke your arm
Friends and family
People who care that you haven’t even met
47

48. LISTEN TO SOMEONE
Empathy is great, but you aren’t a professional!
Don’t try to guess at cause and effect
Don’t recommend treatment
48

49. GET TRAINING
Mental Health First Aid - http://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/
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50. FURTHER READING
Resources
http://itrevolution.com/karojisatsu/
http://ideas.ted.com/how-should-we-talk-about-mental-health/
http://www.mindgarden.com/
References
https://www.infoq.com/interviews/john-willis-qcon-london-2016
https://hbr.org/2013/04/does-money-really-affect-motiv
Thanks
John Willis
Jeff Sussna
Jen Quraishi
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51. THANK YOU
@kmugrage
51